The artillery fire passed over the Turkish army positions in front of Adrianople like a wind, and for a moment, high and low smoke rose up above the Turkish army front line at the same time. The scale of this shelling was twice as large as the two previous shellings launched by the Rakshasa Army.
Nicholas I was obviously a little impatient. His Roman legion had already experienced three offensive failures within six hours from early morning to noon on May 10. And it was a disastrous defeat. Although the three Roman legions that were invested all fought very bravely, they launched a fierce charge against the Turkish artillery fire, machine guns, and rifles, and twice broke through the anti-infantry trenches and barbed wire fences at the front of the Turkish position. Entered the Turkish trench line. However, they were driven back by the new Turkish officers and soldiers who came up along the communication trench to support them with rifles and grenades equipped with bayonets, and they retreated with heavy casualties.
Looking down from a high place, you can see that the front lines of the Turkish positions and inside and outside the trenches are full of gray corpses. Especially in the area between the anti-infantry trenches and the barbed wire defense line, the density of corpses is even more alarming, almost to the point of stacking one on top of another. -Although the Rakshasa infantry were issued with pliers that could cut barbed wire, the Turks wrapped not one wire around the wooden pile, but many spiked wires, and the wires were connected to each other. , forming a large network that is difficult to break. At the key part connecting the wooden piles, three or four wires are intertwined, which is difficult to cut at once.
While the Mao Xiong soldiers were cutting the wires one by one with iron pliers, the new Turkish officers and soldiers who had arrived at the forward position would use machine guns, rifles, mortars and grenades to attack the Rakshasa soldiers who were crowding in front of the barbed wire. Attack!
At the same time, the British 13-pound field artillery deployed behind the Turkish defense line began to fire shrapnel shells with amazing lethality! This kind of artillery shell uses a light and thin forged shell, and is equipped with a fuze that can be detonated at a scheduled time. As long as the time for the artillery shell to fly from the gun position to the barbed wire line is calculated in advance, the detonation time of the artillery shell can be set so that they can fly over It exploded when it gathered on the heads of the Rakshasa soldiers in front of the barbed wire.
Because the distance between the barbed wire wire and each field gun emplacement had already been measured, and a test firing was conducted beforehand, the shooting was very accurate at this time! One shot can blow up a piece!
In front of the Turkish barbed wire fence, there were corpses everywhere in a short time!
Although the Rakshasa always endured casualties in the end until the barbed wire defense line was breached, the huge losses seriously weakened the momentum of their attack. By the time the Rakshasa officers and soldiers, who had escaped the damage from Turkish bullets, artillery shells and grenades, rushed into the opponent's trench line, they were already at the end of their crossbows.
Three failed attacks, thousands of people killed or missing, and thousands of wounded being carried off on stretchers, all indicate that the Rakshasa army, which has been unstoppable since the beginning of the war, is falling into a real hard battle!
Of course, this level of hard fighting was nothing compared to the later trench warfare. But Nicholas I never experienced anything like this. The warlike Tsar's only combat experience before today was using machine guns and cannons against the December D's in the Palace Square.
All the knowledge he has about military command comes from the Napoleonic Wars and earlier wars. Although during the Napoleonic Wars, there were already soldiers squatting in trenches and firing, and there were also "whirlwind machine guns" that could fire continuously, but at that time there were no layers of barbed wire, no water-cooled machine guns, and new grenade wires with amazing lethality. bomb. Therefore, the effect of positional warfare was not very good, and mobile warfare was the mainstream at that time. In the mind of Nicholas I, the Turks were simply vulnerable.
But now, Nicholas I's "invincible Roman legions" were beaten with heavy casualties by the Turks, whom he had always looked down on, using a brand-new method of warfare! And it was under the watchful eyes of diplomats and reporters from various countries!
This is so embarrassing!
You must know that Rakshasa’s army has been known as the number one in the world since the Napoleonic Wars. How can the world’s number one army only have this little combat effectiveness?
Is the world's number one army about to be replaced?
Nicholas I, who was a little angry, called his marshals and generals to his command post during lunch on May 10, cursed them, and then ordered them to increase their firepower and increase the intensity of the attack. A breakthrough at any cost!
The Tsar was angry, and the consequences were dire!
The marshals and generals of Nicholas I all felt the wrath of the Tsar, so when the offensive began that afternoon, they showed their true strength-double the firepower and double the attacking troops!
But Nicholas's reaction was already expected by Hugh Gough Pasha. He also mobilized more artillery, machine guns, and reserves to the front. Moreover, he also took advantage of the opponent's opportunity to have lunch and adjust his deployment, ordering his men to rest and reinforce the already somewhat dilapidated positions, and also ordered people to plant expensive British mines behind the barbed wire lines.
Sultan Mahmud II, who was sitting in the city of Edirne, became bolder after learning about the battle situation in the morning. He personally took his own soldiers, his own nine-horse tail flag and the Caliphate flag, and arrived at the front of Edirne's defense line to take up his post amidst the cheers of "The True God is the Greatest".
At this point, the Tsar of Rakshasa, the Sultan of Turkey, and their generals, officers, and soldiers have all made their utmost determination.
And their determination, on the afternoon of May 10, turned into a fierce, cruel, efficient, but meaningless killing!
When the dusk of May 10th arrived, there was almost no change in the front lines of both sides. What changed was only the growing number of casualties, ammunition consumption, and perhaps the international status of the Rakshasa Kingdom!
"Waste! Waste! They are all waste! Tens of thousands of people died, and tens of thousands more were injured. More than 200,000 rounds of artillery shells were fired! You wastes couldn't capture any of the Turkish defense lines. You couldn't even capture their We couldn’t even capture the first line of defense! When will you losers break through the Turkish defense line? Tell me quickly!”
In the Tsar's former enemy command post, Nicholas I, who had personally taken over the combat command, roared loudest at a group of dejected marshals and generals.
His twenty-two legions totaled about 200,000 men. On the first day of the attack, he lost 10% of his troops and used up more than half of their ammunition, but the result was almost nothing.
How can we continue to fight this battle?
What's worse is that Nicholas I has already played the role of the Eastern Roman Empire, and even crossed the seaport in front of diplomats and reporters from all over the world. If he cannot win, he will have suffered a huge loss in front of the whole world. The reputation of Rakshasa!
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty the Tsar," Peter Wittgenstein looked at Nicholas I who was already in a state of rage, and could only stammer, "The enemy's defense line is obviously stronger than we expected. Our 75mm cannons and The 105mm cannon did not have enough firepower to destroy their positions.
In addition, even 75mm and 105mm artillery shells are no longer large enough. The consumption of ammunition was so great that more than 200,000 rounds of artillery shells were fired in one day. In the past, this was enough to handle several battles! "
Nicholas I clenched his fists, glared at the old marshal in front of him, and said word by word: "Marshal, I don't want to listen to your nonsense. All I and the Rakshasa Empire need is victory! Your task is to lead the front line The army will win! For victory, I can give you anything. If the Rakshasa Empire has it, I can give it! If the Rakshasa Empire doesn’t have it, just buy it. Use oil or gold to buy it from the Ming Empire!"
Marshal, what do you want? Say it quickly! "Grand Duke Mihayiner asked, looking at the old marshal who was a little dazed.
He also witnessed the tragic situation on the front line. Of course he knew that the people below had worked very hard. If they couldn't win, it must be because the weapons were not good enough!
Marshal Peter Wittgenstein said: "I, I need 155 mm cannons, at least 300, and enough artillery shells! I also need napalm bombs that can be used to burn enemy positions. In addition, we do not have enough troops. , and we need at least 100,000 reinforcements!"
